Chargers Hang On In Five Set Thriller

Cypress- Cypress College (9-5) hung on in their home opener against Mt. San Antonio College (5-3) on Wednesday night with a 3-2 victory (25-19, 29-27, 23-25, 22-25, 15-11). The Mounties were tough to put away, coming back in two straight sets after the Chargers had a 2-0 lead, but in the end the Chargers had the talent to pull through. Sophomore Madison May led the way with 22 kills while freshman Raquel Medina landed 13 kills and a team-high 5 service aces. Freshman Rockelle Gholson also contributed with a team-high 5 solo blocks along with 2 assist blocks to help the Chargers grind out a victory.

The Chargers took control of the first set, reading the Mounties attack and forcing them into mistakes. After jumping to a 4-0 lead in the beginning, Cypress never looked back and pulled the game away for a 25-19 victory.

The second set proved to be a meddling affair as both teams went back and forth, struggling to pull away. The Chargers almost pulled away with the score tied at 22 apiece after Madison May landed a kill, but the Mounties fought back to put the game at deuces. After taking a 28-27 lead, the Chargers closed out the set thanks to a kill by May.

It was the same story in the third set as both sides grinded to an 11-11 tie to open things up. However, the Mounties rallied and halted the Chargers' attack to take a 20-15 lead. After a crucial timeout, the Chargers managed to cut their deficit to 22-23, but a blocked shot that went out of bounds denied Cypress the sweep as the Mounties won 25-23.

Cypress opened up the fourth set with full force, taking a sure 8-2 lead. But the game was far from over as Mt. Sac crawled back to tie the game at 12 apiece. The Chargers rallied again to lead 18-13, but the Mounties wouldn't go away as they managed to tie the game at 21. Mt. Sac went on a 4-1 rally to take the fourth set 25-22.

The Chargers refused to let the once commanding 2-0 lead slip away as they battled through the fifth set. After holding onto a narrow 6-4 lead, the Chargers went on a 5-1 run to go ahead 11-5. Mt. Sac called a timeout and came back with a 4-point rally of their own to cut the lead to 11-9. Head Coach Nancy Welliver called a timeout for damage control and the Chargers never looked back. After leading 13-11, Madison May came up huge with a key block to stop Mt. Sac's momentum and freshman Demi Nicholson delivered a service ace to seal the match 15-11.

The Chargers will face off against Fullerton College (5-3) at home this Friday, October 2 at 6:00 PM to open up conference play. This match will serve as a special occasion to raise Breast Cancer Awareness through the Side-out Foundation. All proceeds will go to the Side-out Foundation for breast cancer research.